Police to charge Britney's bodyguard over scuffle

A bodyguard for Britney Spears must face a assault charge after he scuffled with two men trying to photograph the singer and her young sons at a Las Vegas strip resort, police said today.

The bodyguard, Cesar Julio Camera, aged 37, was accused of grabbing and punching one photographer and pushing another into a wall about 11.30am yesterday at the spa at the Wynn Las Vegas hotel-casino.

Camera was issued a misdemeanour battery summons after the scuffle.

No serious injuries resulted, police said. Neither Spears, 25, nor the children - 22-month-old Sean Preston Federline and 10-month-old Jayden James Federline - were reported to have been hurt.

“There were no signs of injuries to her or the children, nor is she listed as a victim,” Las Vegas police Sgt John Loretto said of the singer, songwriter, dancer and actress. She is listed in police reports as a witness, along with one man and five other women.

“The only person issued a citation was Ms Spears’s private security guard, Mr Camera,” Loretto said.

A lawyer for Spears’s estranged husband, Kevin Federline, did not immediately respond to reports that Spears should not have had the children in Las Vegas. The couple are involved in divorce proceedings in California that according to several reports include restrictions on travelling out-of-state with the boys.

Police said the scuffle, captured on security videotape, occurred after Andrew Deetz, 24, and Kyle Henderson, 23, approached Spears and her entourage in a hallway and a hotel security guard told them to put their photo equipment away.

Henderson allegedly bumped Camera, who was holding Spears’s son, Sean.

Spears screamed, Camera “shouldered” Henderson against a wall, gave the child to Spears, and ran after Henderson and Deetz, according to police reports.

Police said Camera punched Deetz, who showed officers a lump and abrasion on his forehead. Henderson was not reported to have been hurt.

Loretto said he did not know when Camera was scheduled to respond to the summons. He could face up to six months in county jail and a £500 (€742) fine if convicted.

Spears has been involved in several recent confrontations with paparazzi. She apologised earlier this month for attacking a photographer’s car with an umbrella in February, saying she had been preparing to try out for a movie part and got carried away. The umbrella incident took place during a period in which she also shaved her head, got new tattoos and was seen partying hard in Los Angeles clubs.